2022- The Year of Civility

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I focus on one aspect of life I’d like to nurture and grow. I choose a catchphrase that embodies the concept and creates a common theme. If you’re into jumping down rabbit holes, here is a rundown of the past. Last year, I named 2021 “The Year of Resilience” out of a fierce, … Read More

The Power of Purging

If you follow me on social media, you may have noticed a post or two about my newsletter trials and tribulations. Long story short, I didn’t send newsletters during the pandemic, and because of that, most of my followers had become “inactive.” When I overrode those protocols to reach out to readers on the original list, my mail service sent … Read More

Is Our Hate Bigger Than Our Heart

I teared up as I watched the 46th presidential inauguration. Good lord, the past year alone, our country had endured so much heartache and pain.   Afterward, I called and friend and told her how much I loved Biden’s speech. It eased my heart to hear him talk of unity, calling on both parties to stop this uncivil war and work … Read More

Practicing Gratitude

Every morning I wake with my brain already running full tilt. Thoughts race with everything from creating grocery lists to subplots I should add in the latest work in progress. It’s like my subconscious keeps working while I go to sleep. In college, I’d listen to whatever song I had to memorize before going to bed. In the morning, I’d … Read More

Legislating Integrity

Selfishness has gripped this nation in a way never seen before, and “news” shows use fear-mongering and misinformation to create alternative realities for our most intellectually vulnerable. Straw man, false equivalence fallacies, and conspiracy theories have muddied the communication waters, making it almost impossible to keep our communities informed and safe. The willfully ignorant hate facts that contradict their beliefs. … Read More

The Life We Choose

There are people in this world that light up a room when they enter it. They live so boldly, love so deeply, and have an ocean of compassion, so much so that it’s a joy just being around them. Ann was such a person. Fierce as a lion with a heart the size of Texas, she was a force all … Read More

Enough

Enough I’m so tired of hate. I’m tired of people excusing hate. I’m tired of people giving their loyalty to politicians that never earned their trust. I’m tired of lies. And conspiracy theories. And alternative facts. And willful ignorance. I’m tired of this damn virus stealing bright souls that served as beacons in this dark world. I’m tired of greed. … Read More

We Must Do Better

I once tried to pay for gas with counterfeit money. True story. It was years ago. I’d just taken the kiddos to one of those summer carnivals that had sprung up overnight in an old mall’s parking lot. The kids always loved to go, even though I wouldn’t let them ride the shoddy roller coasters. We went for the smaller … Read More

The Truth of it All

  Aristotle said, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Most artists I know feel this way. Art is an expression of inward truths manifested in words, brush strokes, movement, and sound. The most powerful art leaves its audience reflecting on the experience and how it pertains to their lives.  … Read More

Sanity in the Storm

March 2020 officially goes under the “never would I ever” category of life. Never would I ever have thought I’d see a pandemic, nor the ravaging effects on what quarantining an entire nation does to the American psyche. When all this started I thought I’d found a silver lining in a storm cloud. Being forced to stay home meant having … Read More